Now Your Mess Is Mine
by sofaritsalright
Summary: Jess arrives back in Stars Hollow with an aching in his chest and the seemingly impossible task of saving Rory Gilmore from going off the deep end. (Or: an AYITL rewrite where Literati gets the love and attention they deserve.)
1. New Beginnings

**A/N:** Hello, my loves! It has been a long, long time since I've written a Lit fic, but I am so happy to be here again. After AYITL, I couldn't bring myself to watch much GG anymore, but I'm back because three years later, I'm still mad. Although my work and writing life are insanely busy as of late, I took time to write this because I have years of anger to put into it now.

To set the tone of this first chapter, I suppose it officially takes place in the episode titled Summer where Jess visits Rory at the Gazette. However, although it is canon compliant for the most part (including dialogue), I will not be letting this fic end where AYITL did. I can't do that to myself or anyone else. From here on out, it will pretty much not follow canon and I prefer to keep it that way.

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this! Please go easy on me, I haven't been in the land of FF in awhile so I'm a bit rusty. With all that said, I hope you all like it! If you want me to continue this, please let me know in the comments!

* * *

Rory Gilmore, infamously known to Jess Mariano's brain as _the one that got away_. Hell, most days he better than that, that she couldn't be referred to as that due to the fact that it was him that ran away. He ran out of Stars Hollow, away from Rory's shaky grips, away from his uncles safe haven that he had desperately built to give a boy who was hard to love. Although Jess has grown up, figured out that life isn't always necessarily out to get him or bite him in the ass, he has learned that he wasn't always hard to love... He was just unwilling to accept anything that felt unusual. Also, in the process of growing up, he's learned throughout time that he threw away one good thing that could've stabilized him much sooner rather than later. That was one of his biggest regrets. But hey, kids will be kids. Especially the screwed up ones.

Rory Gilmore, a name that Jess Mariano's mind has called out several times whether it be in frustration, anger, denial, guilt, heartbreak... even love once or twice. He's shouted the name many times through fictitious characters he named _Delia_ or _Summer_, both with their glistening brunette locks and eyes so blue they could bring you to your knees. ("_Subtly has never been your strong suit, nephew_.")

Rory Gilmore, an infectious disease that Jess Mariano will never be able to shake, no matter how many other woman are prescribed to completely change his world view or take his heart and try to mend it and make it whole. Other women had mended his heart, soothed his brain, reached his intellect, and tickled his fancy. They'd gotten dedications in his last Best Seller or their own display at Truncheon, along with poetry readings, large posters with their faces, anything that would make them happy. Jess gave himself to them.. just not completely. Not the way he knew he could with Rory.

It'd been four years since they'd last come face-to-face, meeting again in London by pure coincidence - wonderful, always enticing, coincidence. It'd been four years since Jess slipped out of the hotel room at four in the morning, careful not to wake her. The soft lighting from the hallway casted one singular light upon her face as it gently lay against the pillow, her lipstick now worn off, but her mouth still turned slightly upwards from the night they'd shared. He remembers the feeling of reaching up at his jawline, slightly pinching where his skin was stained a raspberry red from the makeup she swore wouldn't budge from its place. That last image of Rory was now burned into his brain, branded there as yet another reminder of his one too many screwups in their timeline. If he had just gotten good grades and attended school, he could've taken her to prom. If he wouldn't have left Stars Hollow. If he wouldn't have been too brash about running away with her. If he would've just kissed her with everything in him. If he would've loved her the way she deserved to be loved... If he would've just stayed. Maybe, just maybe, they could've gotten something right for once. But he never did, so _they_ never did.

Rory Gilmore, it's a name that haunts him, yet fills his chest with a tremendous amount of hope. It's now the name he's staring at as his feet are planted outside of the Stars Hollow Gazette. While her name is only etched on a piece of masking tape and not written in stone like one Bernie Roundbottom, it's as permanent as everything else in this town. As he stares it down, he remembers that perhaps she won't be thrilled to see him. Maybe he broke her heart again when he left that hotel room after a night that could never be forgotten. Maybe Luke's ramblings about Rory needing guidance was being placed in a very unsteady pair of hands, by someone she could truly never want to see again. But still, he was here, in the town that he still despised, and she was there, seemingly losing it if she could only find solace in a job under Taylor Doose. With a hefty sigh, he braces himself as an arm extends to open up the door. He's quick to come around the corner with anything but a true greeting.

"No cigar?" he calls out, hoping to catch the attention of the youngest Gilmore. Once he rounds the corner and catches her eye, there's a grin that appears on his lips all too quickly. If he was still an angst-ridden teenager, he'd still damn her for having that effect on him. "I pictured you chomping a fat cigar."

The surprise doesn't seem to vanish from seemingly ageless features, though hints that she was suddenly amused were showing. It was quite the relief. "Doctor told me to cut back."

It was a warm, brief greeting, followed by one of the many elders that called him punk still to this day. Oh, how he missed this. It was split instances such as those where the former teenage punk within him truly wanted to rebel, to go off, to be released for the first time in eons. However, with time, came better judgement. Instead he sat down, ignored what sixteen year-old Jess would want, and instead focused on Rory. First came the story about his mother and TJ, caught up in some weird vegetable cult with thousand year contracts. Seemed that Rory already knew the story, as she should, as editor of the sleepy towns daily newspaper. It was the story of why he was here in the first place - the reason he came back for a brief visit. What later flowed out of Rory's mouth (secrets of being broke, breaking up with this P guy, being a contender, not having money for new underwear) was the reason why he made a very quick and rash decision to stay, even if it was only for a few days longer than he originally planned.

Though he zoned out to mentally make a note of all the things he'd have to add to his Amazon Prime or get from Doose's and tell Luke that he needed the old apartment above the diner for a few days longer, he did catch on to everything Rory was saying. After all these years, he'd never let a single word she said drop from her lips without giving it a worthwhile listening to. The longer she ranted, the more frustrated he grew. Not because of her inability to keep it together, but because their roles seemed to be reversed for the first time in their lives.

The single moment Rory has a passing thought about being one of Paris's surrogates, Jess puts an end to it. "Stop. This is a rut. It's temporary." _Everything was temporary_. That's something that this stupid town taught him all those years ago - along with all of the mistakes that followed briefly afterwards. "You're a writer! Ruts are normal."

They were literature lovers together all those years ago. Children who both grew up to go into the industry of written word. It was shared, sacred ground. This would hopefully get her to slow down and listen up. "You need to find something to write about that you're passionate about." _That doesn't involve the going on's around Stars Hollow_, he wants to adds, but he's sure she can pick up on that from his tone.

She demands emphasis on the dramatic scoff that travels its way from her throat. "What is that foreign concept you speak of? "Passion"? Is that really a thing?"

He would smile if it wouldn't take away from the rather serious tone of their conversation. "You just gotta find that thing that makes you feel, so that your readers feel it." And he's speaking from experience, remembering the stories he wrote of Delia and Summer and his other characters that female readers got hooked on, for they finally felt seen by some pessimistic ex who owed them apologies. "What makes you feel?"

"Did I tell you I lost my wallet?"

There's a side of Rory Gilmore he forgot existed and she was stubborn as all hell to listen to what he had to say, but still, he had to try...

Jess readjusts himself in the old leather chair, picking up his second glass of scotch, and leaning in closely so she can finally understand what he's saying. "You should write a book. And I know what you should write."

After dropping the lines, about writing a book about the only Gilmore girls to ever exist, he sees Luke in the window, waiting outside for him. Nearly giving him deja vu, he stands from his chair as he finishes off his glass. Rory was now quiet, seemingly caught deep in thought, as Jess thanks her for "lunch". It was something that Jess was happy to see, even if she looked slightly shocked and horrified by the whole ordeal. Still, if anyone knew of good books, it was the two of them and that, right there, was a million dollar idea.

Before he reaches the doorway, he turns back around to give Rory one last look. "Listen, Rory, you've gotta trust me on this one." _Trust me just this once_, he wants to plead with her in a way he had many times before. "I'll be at the diner later if you want to flesh out any ideas." Eyebrows lift only for his head to nod once before taking off to go on a true rescue mission. He only hoped that Rory would follow through, take him up on the idea, perhaps get a best seller out of it all, or even one last shot at redemption in the meantime.


	2. Then She Appeared

**A/N:** Hey, lovelies! Thanks for putting up with the delay, but the holidays got in the way of some good old writing time. Thank you all for the support on the first chapter! I appreciate it very much and adore you all!

As for this chapter, please remember that I'm still trying to set up this story. It isn't Lit heavy as of yet, but we're getting there. Stay tuned!

* * *

The dinner rush was slowing down, leaving Jess to attend to standard nighttime cleaning such as sweeping up, organizing the table tops in a way that reminded him of his uncle that was looking onward in awe. This wasn't new, Jess helping out whenever he was in town to catch up with the Danes clan, yet it still left Luke remembering the teenager Jess once was; rebellious, anti-authority, and ever-so reluctant. The Jess who returned to Stars Hollow to pick up his long dead car wouldn't have willingly took over his old duties as a waiter and busboy, but this morning, he helped his uncle open up shop and once they arrived back from trying to save Liz and TJ, he decided to stay to serve the people of Stars Hollow their dinner. However, like old times, he was still short with some - well... _Kirk_, who tried his damndest to bring in Petal, leaving Jess to kick him out and return by his lonesome, or at least his human companion. This truly made Luke laugh to himself, watching onward. _He's cracked_, Jess commented, to which Luke replied, _He always has been, it's just gotten worse._

Now Luke walks over to him, smiling across at the adult Jess has become, accepting responsibilities he didn't have to take up, but instead willingly lending a hand without hesitation, without asking, just stepping in wherever he needed to be. Maybe this proves that over the years, Luke had rubbed off on him in the slightest. "How long are you staying this time?" he finally decides to ask, arms crossing against his chest.

"Why, you try'na to rehire me?" Jess keeps his gaze down, placing the salt and pepper shakers back to their designated spots, a shiver running up his spine as he remembers that he is becoming Luke and, this time around, he doesn't exactly mind it.

Luke ponders this for one moment too long, leaving Jess curious as to what the answer would be if possible, but truly, they both know that Stars Hollow wasn't the place for Jess to be. Philadelphia was where he began to blossom and thrive and heal. "Wouldn't mind it at this point," Luke shrugs, "we could rebrand, start a 50/50 partnership. In fact, you could inherit this place one day, keep it runnin' when I kick the bucket. I'd even let you live in the apartment upstairs rent-free as long as you'd like. Yeah, yeah. Think about it. _Luke & Jess's Diner_. Really just- springs off the tongue, doesn't it?" While the words were drenched in sarcasm, leading them both to the conclusion that Lorelai was quite the influence on him, Luke would be embarrassed to admit that yes, it was a dream he once had, only for a split second, back when he was still trying to tame the wild soul that ran through his young nephew.

There's utter disbelief in the younger man's face as he suddenly picks his head up, staring onward as his uncle goes on. "Should I be putting a tongue depressor in your mouth right about now?" Eyes roll at the realization of what life probably was in some alternative universe. It probably wasn't a bad existence, as long as there were a few people who didn't exist... and a few that did in his life. The thought leaves his eyes to fall off of Luke and across the town square, peering into the front window of the Gazette to see if she was still there. She was. Sitting in the same spot he left her hours ago. He shakes his head, returning his attention back to Luke, acting as if he didn't take the short and not-so-subtle break to spy on his ex, impatiently waiting for her arrival unbeknownst to Luke. "_Luke & Jess's Diner_," he scoffs to himself. The thought of writing a book about their lives wasn't entirely unappealing, except for the fact that he just gave the idea away to Rory. Gilmore Girls and Diner Guys didn't exactly fit together, yet their books would be riddled with crossovers and epiphanies, telltale signs that the lives of their parental figures and themselves often crossed paths, gave them insight on what could've been twenty years down the line. Again, he shakes this thought out of his head forcefully, didn't need it to be there, needed it all clear by the time she was on her way over.

Although a satisfied Luke is walking back towards the counter, Jess calls out to complete his unfinished, bizarro fantasy. "If we can keep certain people banned from stepping foot in here, then I'd be in." This leaves them both to smile. It would never happen, of course, and they'd drive each other mad, it was at least fun to joke about.

It takes another thirty-five minutes for Jess's phone to ping and he's already rushing to pull it out of his pocket, trying to keep his cool so Luke doesn't get too suspicious, but it is odd for Jess to care about his phone in the first place, let alone answer it as soon as there's a notification. There's a satisfactory grin as he see's the name on his phone and the message that she is on the way. However, the exact text reads _Two Lorelai's incoming_. Eye's ponder out the window and wouldn't you know it, two Gilmore's making their way over to their favorite establishment, and Jess is already on cue, making a fresh pot of coffee for the two women. Out of the corner of his eye, he can see his uncle give him a curious look, one that reads _you're still not over it_. To answer his unspoken question, Jess shrugs. "Gotta keep the customers happy, Uncle Luke."

To his surprise, the following half hour is rather civil. Seems to him that Lorelai is taking a liking to Jess. Well, in the only way that Lorelai could. Ending grudges wasn't necessarily her forte, but the older Jess has gotten, the less like Lorelai's teenage self he has become, she's pondered the fact that he's actually grown up well. He's showing his true colors and they're brighter than she thought they would be; surprising for the kid that tole a beer from her the first time they met.

After scarfing down her burger and fries, Rory turns to Jess with a nervous grin. "Shall we get started?" she asks, and he picks up on the anxiety and uncertainties laced in her tone. It dawns on him that they'd been in this particular situation once before. The circumstances were different, they were different, and this had been about school, focused on him. This time around it was business, setting Rory up for a life that she desperately longed for and Jess helping out in every way that he could. And thank God this time it had nothing to do with the political ramifications of the Marshall Plan.

As if they'd stepped back in time, Lorelai looks at the two with furrowed brows, stepping into protective mom-mode out of sheer instinct. "Started? Started on what, hon?"

Rory shrugs, not sure how to explain it. "Well..." Rory's eyes dart around the diner, it's only the four of them now, the way she used to prefer it. "Jess, uh... He offered to help me go over ideas. For a book. A book that I'm going to write - _try_ to write."

Lorelai chuckles. "Jess is-"

Luke cuts her off instantly. "That's great! I think that's a great idea."

Lorelai, although her views have changed, seems to be stuck in a sudden time warp. "Déjà vu, anyone? No? Just me?" This act is cut short by her fiancé's disappointed stare. There's a silent, seemingly telepathic conversation happening between the two. "Sorry. I think that's great."

"Yeah?" Rory asks, curious with a hopefulness in her voice, like a little kid again.

Seems as though Lorelai changed her tune almost instantly, letting the other three breathe a little easier. "He knows what he's doing, doesn't he? Author and owner of a book press. Think he's a good choice." It pains her to say, but times are a-changin' and she has to be up to date. "So, what's the book about?"

"Not sure yet," Rory says a little too quickly, obviously not ready to reveal what they'd discussed. "We'll cross that bridge when we get to it, okay?"

"You two can head home," Jess is soft enough to tell Luke and Lorelai, "I'll close up for the night."

After some argument, the two are on their way, leaving Jess to lock the door and flip the sign to 'closed' on their way out. Doesn't take too long to jump right into talking, their conversation starting as casual, old friends as Jess continues clean up and setting chairs on top of the table for the night, all while Rory pulls a portable bluetooth speaker from her purse, setting it up on the counter and finding her perfectly curated writing playlist. "Why Does It Always Rain On Me?" starting up through the speaker, Rory smiles and Jess raises an inquisitive eyebrow. "_Ambiance_," she tells him.

"Right, _ambiance_." Eyes widen, sly grin reaching his lips without meaning to.

"Gotta admit, I have no clue what I'm doing."

"Oh, grasshopper, I'm here to guide you through the wonderful, painstakingly terrible world of book writing."

Eyes roll. "Wow, you make it sound so fun." Her tone is now flat, part of her newfound confidence now fading.

"It's not that bad. As long as you're not listening to... _this_. We don't need gloomy." He tells her, reaching for her phone, holding it up for permission as he selects the proper music to set this particular mood. To her surprise, it's not Bowie or The Clash, instead melodic tones hit her ears as XTC sings on, _Then she appeared_...

Within the next hour, the two had laughed about the past, talked through Rory's envious life with her mother as her best friend and sidekick, as well as dwelling into the strange relationships that both of them had endured. Jess sits back and listens, every so often typing away at his MacBook, setting up the outline that she needed. Later on, on her own, Rory would flesh out the details and timeline, figure out what it truly was all about. "_The Gilmore Girls_," she finally mutters, a wide smile appearing on her lips.

"Think you just found your title," he comments, nodding slowly.

"Think you're right."

There's a silence that falls upon them, just the sounds of The Velvet Underground playing softly from behind their table. He wonders if this is the end of their discussion, if they'd taken enough time to get the idea off the ground. He wonders if this was the last of it, if she'd pack up and go home soon, if he'd only see her for breakfast before he left again. Both are deep in thought, but Jess is the first one to break it, jumping out of his seat as he thinks up a new plan. "What do you say we get out of here? Get some ice cream?"

"In cones?" she asks, chuckling, wondering if rehashing the past had given him ideas.

"In _cones_," eyebrows raise, head bobs slowly. "Business is always better with ice cream."

"I wholeheartedly agree," she says, following suit as she stands, grabbing her purse and tossing him the keys. Less reluctant and argumentative than the last time this scenario played out, yet still questioning the root of it all. "C'mon, you drive, I'll jot down anymore ideas that come to mind." They already know what that idea was: the night that he almost lost her. The night that an animal drove out in front of them, causing him to swerve and hit a tree, all for ice cream in cones. The night that almost ruined his chances with her and completely messed it all up. Things turned out fine after all, much to his surprise. "I better not end up with a broken arm," she warns him.

"Hey," he says sternly, grabbing her attention as well as his spare keys to lock the door behind him, "I would never." There's a gleam in her eye that leaves her knowing that he's taking this seriously.

The joke was all in good fun and lighthearted, but she had to know. He would never put her in harm's way ever again.


End file.
